


Calluses

by neveralarch



Category: Megalo Box (Anime)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 21:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17149016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neveralarch/pseuds/neveralarch
Summary: Aragaki's hands are the same.





	Calluses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bygoshbygolly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bygoshbygolly/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide, bygoshbygolly!

Aragaki's hands were the same.

Nanbu tried not to shy away from Aragaki's scars. He was getting better at suppressing the flinch when he looked into Aragaki's eyes. He was getting better at matching his pace to the rotation of Aragaki's chair wheels. He was trying to give everything to Aragaki, everything he should have given to Aragaki when he came back from the war. When he was _at_ war. When he—

Nanbu bit the inside of his cheek and stared at Aragaki's hands. He was getting better at keeping himself in the moment, keeping himself focused on Aragaki rather than getting distracted by his own guilt. That was the most important thing he could do, now.

"You're thinking too hard," said Aragaki.

"I'm trying not to." Nanbu smiled and reached for Aragaki's hand. Aragaki let him pick it up, let him turn it to look at the palm, the knuckles. The same hand. The same calluses. The same thick fingernails, which Nanbu had always scolded at him to trim. Aragaki would forget and forget and forget until he broke one and cut himself again.

The waiter arrived with their teapot. Nanbu let Aragaki go, and Aragaki poured the tea for both of them, his hands sure and steady as his smile.

Aragaki's smile wasn't the same. Part of that was Nanbu's fault. Not all of it, he knew that. He wasn't as egotistical as Aragaki thought.

"You think Joe will go all the way?" Aragaki raised his cup and smiled at Nanbu through the steam.

"You fought him," said Nanbu. "What do you think?"

Aragaki closed his eyes and breathed in, his hands tightening briefly around the cup. "I don't know," he said, at last. "But it'll be fun to watch."

Aragaki's heart wasn't the same. Neither was Nanbu's. But Nanbu could still feel something familiar in the way his heart pounded when he watched Aragaki's hands.

"I'll get you tickets to the last match," he said.

Aragaki laughed. "You don't know which match will be the last. He could lose any time."

"I know." Nanbu flashed a smile. "But trust me."

And Aragaki, foolish wonderful Aragaki, did. Even now, he did.


End file.
